The Khitan people were originally an ancient nomadic people in northern China, mainly active in the nomadic areas with abundant water and grass along the Liao River.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan nation living outside the Guan suddenly became stronger. They absorbed a large number of Han people who fled to the border due to war, learned advanced Han culture, and began to transform from a backward tribal state to a feudal empire "Liao".
In 916 AD, Yelu Abaoji (Taizu of Liao), the leader of the Dieraku tribe, one of the eight Khitan tribes, established the Liao Dynasty/Liao State in Linxuan, initially named "Khitan" and later renamed Liao.
At its most powerful, the Liao state ruled northeastern China and the Mongolian plateau. From the 11th century, the Liao Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Western Xia Dynasty presented a three-pronged situation.
Among the three kingdoms, the Liao State had the strongest military strength and implemented a policy of respecting Confucianism and revering Buddha; The Northern Song Dynasty had the strongest economic strength and the largest population, but its military strength was average; Western Xia had the weakest national strength and fragile economy, with a population of just over 3 million at its peak, but also strong military strength.
As for the meaning of the Khitan people's determination of the name of the country as "Liao", it has been recorded as:
"Liao takes the iron as the number, take its strength! Although the iron is strong, it will eventually become bad, but the big gold will not be bad. ”
Because the Northern Song Dynasty lost the sixteen states of Yanyun and the Great Wall, it was only able to rule the area inside the Guan, and the vast land outside the Guan was under the rule of the Khitan people for more than two hundred years. During this period, the prestige and territory of the Khitan people reached the peak of history.
Today, the Russian word "China" comes from the translation of "Китай (Khitan)", and some Arab countries also refer to northern China as "Khitan".
"Liao Shi Taizu Benji" said: Wu Xiu cultural relics, bin is tantamount to China.
However, the mighty Liao dynasty died out around the 12th century, replaced by the emerging Jurchen clan (Jin dynasty/Jin state).
In 1115 AD, the Jurchen leader of the Wanyan tribe, "Finish Yan A Bone Da", established the Jin State in Heilongjiang Province, and then spent nearly a decade destroying the Liao State.
The "ruling core" of the Liao State and the Wujing region all fell into the hands of the Jurchens of the Jin State, namely Shangjing Linxuan Province, Xijing Datong Province, Nanjing Xijin Province, Tokyo Liaoyang Province, and Zhongjing Dading Province.
The leader of the Khitans, the last emperor of the Liao state, and the Tianzuo emperor Yelu Yanxi died because of his incompetence, and finally became a prisoner of the Jurchens of the Jin state.
After the fall of the Liao State in 1125, the name of the Khitan nation also fell apart, disappeared into the long river of history, and was gradually forgotten.
"Yuan History": "Liao to release the abolition, Jin to Confucianism to die." ”
It was not until new discoveries by archaeologists in modern times that it was determined that the descendants of the Khitan had always been in the big family of the Chinese nation. According to the "History Books" and modern DNA comparison technology, it can be roughly determined that there are three points to the whereabouts of the Khitan people after the fall of the Liao state.
First, it was integrated into the Jurchens, and later it was gradually sinicized
The Khitan and Jurchens were originally two different peoples, but the Jin State of the Jurchens also annexed the homeland of the Liao State after destroying the Liao State. The vast majority of the Khitan people chose to submit to the Jurchens and became the subjects of the Jin Kingdom. After many Khitan nobles surrendered to the Jin State, they all served as high-ranking officials in the Jin State.
In the war of the Jin State to eliminate the Northern Song Dynasty, a large number of warriors of the Khitan and Xi ethnic groups were also used to fight. This part of the Khitan people followed the Jurchens to conquer the Central Plains, mixed with the Han people, and gradually integrated into the Han people after more than a hundred years of evolution, so they no longer retained the name "Khitan".
Second, he followed the western expedition of Jerudashi, which was gradually Islamized
"History of Liao" records: The Khitan nobleman Yelü Dashi refused to return to the Jin Dynasty, and led more than 100 Khitan cavalry to flee west, and people along the way continued to gather the old departments of the Liao State, and finally obtained more than 10,000 people and hundreds of thousands of livestock.
Based on this part of the soldiers and horses, Yelu Dashi continued to expand his strength and established the Western Liao Dynasty in Xinjiang, Central Asia and other places.
This part of the Khitan people followed the western expedition of Yelu Dashi and brought the Khitan folklore to the far northwest.
In the 13th century, the Mongol Empire arose, and Western Liao was finally destroyed by the Mongol Empire due to the long-term war with the Afghan Gul dynasty, and its strength was greatly reduced. The remaining Khitan people fled into Central Asia, mostly becoming Muslims (Muslims).
Third, migrate to Yunnan or remote areas in the northeast and become other ethnic groups
In addition to following the Jurchens into the Central Plains, some Khitans remained in the northeast and were sent by the Jin State and later the Mongol Empire to garrison distant frontiers.
This part of the people merged with other ethnic groups and became the "Daur people" of later generations. After DNA comparison, referring to the remains of the Khitan people in ancient tombs of the Liao Dynasty, experts found that the Daur people were closest to the historical Khitans.
The Daur are an ethnic minority in the northeast, accustomed to living together, and their customs are very similar to those of the Khitan in history. According to statistics, Daur compatriots are mainly distributed in the Daur Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Heilongjiang Province, Liaoning Province and other places. Because they are physically fit and genetically developed, they are good at hockey.
In addition, the descendants of the Khitan ethnic group have also been found in the territory of Yunnan Province on the mainland. The Puman people in Yunnan are descendants of the Khitan in history, and about 150,000 people live in Yunnan. In the 90s of last century, the mainland Union Hospital, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Yunnan Nationalities Commission, and the Inner Mongolia Nationalities Commission conducted an investigation on this, compared the DNA of the Puman people with the DNA of the Khitan people, and found that the two were highly consistent, thus determining that they were the descendants of the famous Khitan nation in history.
However, the Khitan was originally an ethnic minority in the northeast region, why did they come to Yunnan, thousands of miles away?
Experts speculate that during the rise of the Mongols in history, Kublai Khan led a part of the Khitan army to attack Dali (the ancient Yunnan regime), so the descendants of these Khitans remained in Yunnan to be responsible for defense and reclamation, and their descendants are today's Puman.
In 1253, the Mongol Empire sent troops to conquer the state of Dali, and later the Yuan Dynasty established it as Yunnan Province, and the Khitan descendants stayed in Yunnan to live.